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Mount gets a run from Radnor in Roxborough

Mount senior Gen Hagedorn brings the ball up on offense during a summer league game. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Back in their Lou Cappiella Summer Basketball League opener on June 17, the Mount St. Joseph Magic had rolled over Radnor High School for a lopsided victory, but in last Monday’s rematch things were a bit different, at least for most of a relatively low-scoring first half.

Mount St. Joe jumped on top early, but the Red Raiders rallied to go up 7-5 in the middle of the opening period. Sophomore Sarah Wills, who scored most of her game-high 12 points on medium-range jump shots, got the Magic back even, and from there the Mounties went on to a 17-9 halftime lead and, eventually, a 30-11 victory.

The win kept the locals in second place with a 3-1 record, just behind unbeaten Neumann Goretti High School.

Following the league’s opening night games back in mid-June, chronic wet weather has forced every session since every session indoors to the Kendrick Rec Center’s compact gymnasium. Normally, Cappiella League action occurs outdoors on one of the playground courts.

Last Monday Radnor looked more determined and better organized than in its first meeting with MSJ, and the Raiders also benefitted from the absence of Mount senior guard Alex Louin. Louin, who recently made a verbal commitment to Villanova University, played in the season opener against Radnor, but after that got into the thick of her AAU team schedule.

In the Radnor rematch last week the numbers on the scoreboard turned over slowly most of the night. When the Red Raiders called a time-out midway through the first half they were on the wrong end of a 5-3 score.

The Main Line maidens came back on the floor to score off of a rebound and then they drove for another lay-up to go up by a deuce. After that, though, the Mounties went back in front and then moved into a commanding position (at least for this game) with consecutive buckets by Wills, juniors Mary Kate Ulasewicz and Alaina Hunt, and sophomore M.K. Maloney.

It was 17-9 at the break, and a jumper from the left wing by Wills spread the gap to double figures early in the second half. Radnor put in a breakaway lay-up for a 19-11 tally, but they did not score again the remainder of the game.

MSJ’s Wills divided her one-dozen points evenly between the two halves in the 19-point victory, while Ulasewicz finished up with six. Four points each came from Carpenter and Maloney, and Hagedorn and Hunt added two points apiece.